No... persuade elderly friends and relatives that buying piles of ancient junk may be cheap but is just asking for trouble.

My own Windows 7 i7 machine has run like a dream for over three years now. The Outlook issue was probably my own fault for using it as an RSS reader for podcasts - and never opening and saving them. I'd accumulated over 3 GB...

I can easily satisfy my computing needs with a Chromebook or Chromebox.

Three weeks into my Chromebook journey, I'm still reaching for it as my primary device throughout the day. It's freed me from my study, which is great, particularly in the morning when the angle of the sun has always caused me problems with screen glare in there.

As noted above, my Windows 7 machine has been very smooth and has handled everything I've thrown at it. I bought the Chromebook to act as a secondary machine, and didn't expect to be spending so much time on it by preference.

The one thing that I was really looking forward to was the silence of the Chromebook. My i7 desktop has constant noticeable fan noise, and I'm lucky to live in a very quiet rural environment.

So, what are the things that I find myself returning to the Windows machine for?

Large scale website updates. I've been handling daily changes to the sites I manage on the Chromebook using ShiftEdit, but for yesterday's major additions I chose to use Expression Web and the power of the PC for the job.

Ripping CDs, though this is rare now as I'm a long time Napster/Rhapsody user and when I do buy it's more likely to be downloads from Google Play these days.

Accounting. The various businesses I handle the accounts for use a Windows program. We are already thinking of moving some of these to cloud services, though.

Outlook, for some email accounts, mainly out of habit. I'll shift these soon.

TeamViewer sessions into remote computers. That actually works fine on the Chromebook via the web interface, but it's easier with the big screen of my desktop.

Directing Napster stream to various audio devices around the house using Jamcast. The Chromebook doesn't have a way to act as DLNA controller, let alone stream its audio channel to DLNA receivers.

At some point I'm going to want to continue the heavy PC games that I've started (Dishonoured and Skyrim)... but I've got addicted to Fallen London on the Chromebook for now.

MS Access. I have a couple of databases that I use occasionally. To work in the Cloud I'd need to port them to a SQL database on a cloud instance somewhere.

Zinio. Though I read mostly on my tablet, I do find that the big monitor is better for my music magazine Uncut.

Calibre.

Scrivener. Though I've been deliberately trying to use cloud alternatives for the last three weeks, I will want to return to Scrivener when I tackle another novel. Short stories can be handled pretty well in the cloud by Scriptito, or Workflowy for outlining and Google Docs for the draft.

Skype. I can exchange text messages and voice with Skype users using IMO on the Chromebook, but my family and friends are big Skype video users. I'm trying to push them across to Google Hangouts but I don't think it's going to happen!

Some of the above relate to the size of the screen and could be handled by a Chromebox of sufficent power.

The other big reason why I still have to turn on the Windows PC (though not actually use it) is printing. Neither of our two printers has CloudPrint so I need Chrome running on the PC to allow printing from the Chromebook.

My wife also has a Windows desktop in her study which she rarely uses, as she tends to work from the office or from her laptop, so I'm seriously considering losing my own PC and running hers as a Windows server from her room. I could then have a Chromebox attached to my big monitor, a peaceful study, and remote desktop into her Windows server as required.

[QUOTE=Graham
The other big reason why I still have to turn on the Windows PC (though not actually use it) is printing. Neither of our two printers has CloudPrint so I need Chrome running on the PC to allow printing from the Chromebook.

Graham[/QUOTE]

As I understand it, you just load Chrome onto the Windows PC and you can print from your Chromebook on any printer the Windows PC has a connection to either directly or on a network.

I tried it with 2 Window PCs using Chrome. Worked fine.

I am holding back for slightly better hardware and battery life. I like to hold on to a computer and avoid having to trade up in a couple of years because I have outgrown it. Same as for vehicles.

Exactly, yes, it works beautifully and was very quick to set up, but it does mean that I can only print from the Chromebook if my Windows machine is running.

Graham

That is the catch 22! You still have to have a Windows machine or an new special printer.
My guess is these printers aren't cheap but I haven't looked into it yet. All I use is old printers that came with computers from many years ago. They don't die.

That is the catch 22! You still have to have a Windows machine or an new special printer.
My guess is these printers aren't cheap but I haven't looked into it yet. All I use is old printers that came with computers from many years ago. They don't die.

Yes, I am pretty happy with Windows. A machine that maybe costs a little bit more but can do everything rather than jumping through a dozen hoops to do some seemingly simple things. And I have no problems even with 2 or 3 year old machines.

Yes, I am pretty happy with Windows. A machine that maybe costs a little bit more but can do everything rather than jumping through a dozen hoops to do some seemingly simple things.

Except that this works both ways. The Windows machine needs to jump through hoops to do some of the things that are the strength of the Chromebooks, if indeed it can do them at all:

Running silently

Booting from cold in about 6 seconds

Waking from sleep instantly

Updating the operating system with a 6 second reboot

No antivirus or security updates

No application updates

No slowdown from application clutter

I've documented above where I need my Windows machine instead of the Chromebook, but I think printing's the only thing that I do on the Chromebook that requires a bit of hoop-jumping. One hoop (turn on Windows machine), though, not dozens.

It's also worth noting that when we moved to Windows 7 we had to buy a new printer. Our HP Laserjet of the time was not supported.

A couple of years ago, Chromebooks were an interesting experiment but flawed. They've now reached the point where they are very, very nice secondary machines for people with a Mac or Windows PC, and also ideal sole machines for people who don't need specific niche or high-end software.

It's going to be fascinating to watch the system improve over the next few years, to see how much of the market share it can take.

Well, Windows 8 boots up just as fast. And give this Chromebook a year or two and you will need to be just as careful about viruses, especially in those webapps. You are right, if you are unhappy with your current machine, you might try. But for most their old PC would do a better job without shelling out some additional green.

And give this Chromebook a year or two and you will need to be just as careful about viruses, especially in those webapps.

It isn't just about market share and becoming a target for virus writers, it's about the nature of the OS itself. Sandboxing, operating system verification on reboot, and the ease of reinstallation all reduce the threat.

Doubtless there will be viruses targetting the platform in due course, but the protection is built in and one of ChromeOS's big selling points should be that there is far less of a potential problem with ChromeOS than with Windows or OSX.

It isn't just about market share and becoming a target for virus writers, it's about the nature of the OS itself. Sandboxing, operating system verification on reboot, and the ease of reinstallation all reduce the threat.

Doubtless there will be viruses targetting the platform in due course, but the protection is built in and one of ChromeOS's big selling points should be that there is far less of a potential problem with ChromeOS than with Windows or OSX.

Graham

True, but for me it is a little like saying: "by a bicycle rather than a car, the engine will never break down and you don't need gas". If you are worried about viruses Windows RT is a great compromise.